I am a reading fiend. I love to read, and can often be found reading while doing other things, like walking, exercising, or waiting. I’ve been keeping a list of all the books I’ve read since 2002, and last year I read 112 books (tracked with the Goodreads challenge widget). This year I figured I wouldn’t want to push so hard, especially once I found out babies were on the way and that we would be moving, so I set a more reasonable goal of 80 books. I met that goal in the fall and am ending the year with 89 books. Not too shabby! 🙂
A few folks I know wrote up lists of their favorite or least favorite books read this year, and I was inspired to add a few books to my to-read list, as well as to summarize my own reading for the year. I am notorious (to myself) for being tough to please–I read so many books that my standards have gotten a lot higher. So bear in mind that I’m picky. 🙂
Fiction that I liked a lot (I read mostly Young Adult fiction this year [again]), with haiku summaries:
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefveter —
Horses from the sea
Island boy and girl ride, ride
Ocean gives and takes
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart —
Boys will be boys, but
What about the girls? Sidelined?
This one is sneaky!Â
Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock —
Shy farm girl athlete
Works hard, questions what she wants.
There’s a cute boy too
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta —
Boarding school, boys rule.
Girl feels lost, struggles.
Unlikely friendships can help.
Non-fiction that I really enjoyed, with prose reviews:
The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton —
Partway through the book, I actually got a pencil and started underlining sentences and phrases. I loved this book. This book is a perfect kindred spirit for me. I love to travel, and I love to learn things, and this book completely satisfied those yearnings without ever leaving home.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot —
You’ve no doubt heard of this book if you haven’t actually read it already. It’s a fantastic read about science, but also about history, ethics, and people.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed —
As soon as I read about this book, I knew I wanted to read it and that I would love it. It didn’t disappoint. A story of travel, solo adventure at that, plus overcoming obstacles/adversity? I’m so there.
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I’m giving myself a very conservative goal of reading 40 books for 2013. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to even do that with two babies, but I seriously can’t imagine going an entire year without reading much. This will no doubt be a very busy year, but I hope I can carve out some reading time for my own peace of mind.
